Circular knitting machine



June 2, 1931. E. T. MAY ET AL CIRCULAR KNITTING MACHINE 531% April 10. 1928 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 v 3 W 1- 4 a V a 2/ w 4. \SV/ 7//// 7 5 l I. Ixllllnllllllll June 2, 1931 E T. MAY ET AL CIRCULAR KNITTING MACHINE Filed April 10, 1928 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 x?) lu m June 2 1931. E. T. MAY ET AL 1,808,242

CIRCULAR KNITTING MACHINE Filed April 1d; 1928 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 I Lflttorneys Patented June 2, 1931 UNITED STATES PATENT o FFice EDWEN TEMPLAR MAY, OF CHILWELL, AND ARTHUR SHERRIFF, OF LONG EATON, ENGLAND, ASSIGNOR-S T FRED,ATTENBOBOUGH, OF LONG EATON, ENGLAND CIRCULAR KNITTING MACHINE Application filed April 10, 1928, Serial No. 268,973, and in .Great Britain April 23, 1 927.

Thisinvention comprises improvements in or relating to circular knitting machines and has for its main-ob ect'to provide :an 1mproved mode of and means for producing patterns and patterned effects by the selective displacement of thread guides.

An important featurevof this invention consistsin the employment in a circular knitting machine of jacquard mechanism for selectively operating the thread guides anddetermining the pattern to be produced in the fabric.

The invention has particular, although not exclusive, reference to that class of machine wherein depending thread guides are disposed in a circular row or series aroundthe machine and are directly or indirectly operated upon by a rotating cam device or-the like so as to be displaced for laying their 530 threads on the needles.

Usually in connection with this type of machine the production of an all-roundcpattern, that is to say, .a pattern extending the entire circumference of the fabric, is impossible by reason of the fact that the varying of the patternis dependent upon the-rising 'and falling movement of the cam device coacting with butts or projections on the guides or on members operating intermediate ofsaid cam and guides,and it is the customary practice to provide a section of the circumference of the machine devoid of the patterning thread guides, the cam being operatedto be vertically adjusted when thenposition of the cam coincides with the space devoid of such guides. In this way a vertical band of the fabric produced has no pattern-therein, such.

band being in the case of stockings and-socks usually located centrally at the back.

By .the employment of the present invention an all-round pattern can be produced in the fabric, and an additional feature of the invention resides in the employment of jacquard mechanism either for actuating the whole of the circular series of patterning thread guides, or for operating upon a series or plurality of patterning thread guides provided in a machine of the above named type that part which has usually been devoid of v0 such guides.

chine in accordance with one embodiment of this invention.

Figure 2 is asimilar view showing. a modified form OftllQ invention.

Figure 3 is a view of .a jacquard device looking at theone side thereof.

.Figure 4 is a view looking at .the opposite side of the same jacquard device.

Figure 5 illustrates .a cam device suitable for operating =two jacquard devices,

Figure 6 is a detail view'showingthe guide operating cam coacting with a butt on the guide.

In one convenient method of'carrying out the invention a circular row-of dependent thread guides 1 are mounted at their upper ends upon a suitable-stationary ring member 2 so that the lower ends of said guidesarelo: catecl approximately level with the hooks of .the needles 3 when said needles are in the raised position, the guides'being preferably of hook formation at their upper ends andbeing so mounted as to be capable of. a suitable degree of vertical displacement in addition to the radial or oscillatory movement necessary for moving the lower ends of the guidesto a position exterior of the needles: for laying the threads. I

Positioned centrally of the machine is a rotatable tubular spindle 50 carryinga suitable cam 5, advantageously in the form-of a circular collar having aprojectin cam bit on its circumference. The tubular shaft or spindle 50surround-s and turns about :a'stat-ionary shaft 4. When the depending thread guides l are in the normal or operative position shown to the right .in. Fig. ,1 this cam o 5 is adapted during its rotary movement to coact with shoulders 1a formed on the guides by cranking or binding them, or with inwardly projecting but-ts 1b as shown in Figure 6, or with butts formed on radially movable jacks located intermediate of said cam 5 and the guides, as represented in Fig. 2, the cam functioning to displace the guides (with or without jacks) radially outwards so as to bring the patterning threads on to the front of the needles, a separate series of jacks 6 or their equivalent being adapted simultaneously to operate upon the lower parts of the guides to displace the latter laterally and lap or traverse the needles.

This lateral displacement of the thread guides is effected by shaping the jacks 6, which move radially, with intermediate bent or cranked portions that act upon the-thread guides as the jacks 6 are moved outwardly, in a manner well-known in thls art. 7

.In order to select certain of the guides for feeding their threads and maintain others of said guides inoperative acquard mechanism is provided, preferably located at the top of the machine a suitable distance above the upper ends of the guides. In the arrangementshown in Figure 1 wherein all of the guides in the circular row are adapted to be operated by the acquard mechanism. two jae' qua-rd devices are conveniently employed one" appertaining to one half and the other to the opposite half of the ring of guides and these being arranged to operate the said groups of guides successively. Each jacquard device, advantageously comprises one or more series of closely disposed horizontally slidable plate elements 7, one of which is provided in connection with each guide 1, each plate 7 hav-' ing a depending arm 8 of crank formation pivoted at the angle of the crank to a fixed pivot 9, the lower approximately horizontal portion of said crank arm 8 being connected by a downwardly extending cord, wire or the like 10 to the upper end of the guide ,1 to be operated thereby.

These slidable plate elements 7 are guided in their movement by pins 11 at their 'rear ends engaging with perforations in a suitable bar 12, and each plate has at its front end a pin 13 which is adapted to coact with an intermittently rotatable member 14 of square or other polygonal cross section over which passes an endless chain of jacquard cards 15, said cards being maintained in position upon the rotatable member by suitablemeans.

The successive operation of the two jacquard mechanism devices is advantageously effected from any suitable drive shaft 16 Fig. 5 said shaft having thereon a cam mem ber 17 with which is maintained in engagement a pair of cam trucks 18v each carried between the ends of an arm 19 extending substantially horiz ontally therefrom, each. of r said arms belng pivoted at one end to a part In applying the invention to an existing of the machine frame and at its other end to the lower end of an upwardly extending rod 20, which rod is at its upper end connected through the crank arm 21 to a transverse spindle 21a on which are fixed a pair of further crank arms 21?) having forked ends which coact with pins 22a carried by slidable rods 22 guided within bearings 23 and located one at each side of a frame or member 24 accommodating the aforesaid slidable jacquard plates 7. Each horizontally sliding rod 22 is suitably connected to the polygonal jacquard card carrier 14; and is reciprocated at intervals through the mechanism just described so as to move said carrier with the cards 15 into and out of engagement with the projecting pins 13 on the slidable plates 7. -The operating devices associated with one jacquard device only are illustrated in Fig. 3, and it will be understood that such devices are duplicated in the other jacquard.

The jacquard cards are suitably punched or perforated in the manner'cu'stomary with jacquards so that when moved into engagement with the aforesaid pins 13, certain of the pins pass through the perforations and the plates 7 carrying such pins remain stationary while the remainder of the pins coact with the unperforatedpart of thecard and the plates appertaining to said pins are slidably displaced. This movement transmits through the aforesaid pivoted cranked arms 8v an upward pulling effect upon the cords 10 attached thereto, and the guides 1 to which said displaced cords'are attached are raised to a position so. as to be unaffected by the rotating cam 5. It will be appreciated, therefore, that those guides which are not raised by the jacquard mechanism are oper: ated by the cam device and aforesaid jacks to lay their threads upon the needles.

' Each jacquard card carrier 14 is intermittentlydotated by any known or approved means such as a clawker member 25 engaging with pins 26 carried by a collar or disc fixed to rotate with said jacquard member. 1 After displacement of the carrier 14 by the clawker 25 a spring 27 encircling one of the sliding rods 22 coacts with a flat disc or plate 28 to retain the jacquard carrier in the required position.

Each of the, depending thread guides is advantageously operated upon by a suitable spring 29 which functions normally to re-. tain the guides in the lowered position and also to pull said guides radially inwards after having been displaced outwards during the laying ofthe thread. e

Any suitable number of. jacquard mechanisms as before described maybe incorporated in the machine, and it is to be understood that the construction and mode of operation of such jacquards can be modified in many ways.

machine, (as is represented in Fig. whereim the ordinarydepending thread guides 1 10,

which are not themselves vertically adjustable, extend around the --ma jor part of the circumference of the machine, the thread guides are selected by a rotary cam 5a, with a narrow bit, which is adapted for vertical reciprocation at predetermined times, by means of a pattern controlled pivoted lever 54 at the upper part of the machine, so as to engage with or be disconnected from stepped butts 3051:, that is, butts 3050 at different heights on intervening jacks. In that form of machine wherein the cam acts directly on the thread guides, butts 1?) may be formed directly on said guides (as represented in Figure 6) but in Figure 2 the butts 3000 are represented as being carried by intervening acks 1(Z which are otherwise of ordinary construction and well known in the art. The particular jack 161 shown in Fig. 2 has a full complement of butts and therefore such jack and the thread guide appertinent thereto will be displaced at each revolution of the cam 5a irrespective of its height. Other jacks (Z may have only one, or two or a clifferent number of butts provided at predetermined heights accordingly as may be required in the use of the machine. To conveniently provide for both the rotary and the vertical movements of the cam 5a the follow-- ing mechanism is represented in Fig. 2: the cam is connected with the rotary hollow shaft or spindle by which it is turned, and this shaft or spindle is slotted at 51 to permit vertical movements of the cam, which is connected, by screws or pins 53, with a sleeve or hollow shaft 52 within the shaft 50 and surrounding the stationary shaft or rod at. The lever mechanism 5% already referred to is connected with the hollow sleeve 01' shaft 52 as represented. A series of additional jacquard operated vertically movable guides 11a is assembled within the comparatively small space which, in these machines as at present constructed, is unoccupied by thread guides. Referring again to Fig. 2 it will be seen that there are acks 30 arranged between the rotatable and vertically movable cam 5a and the said additional thread guides 11a, such jacks 30 each having on one side a a comparatively long plain butt SOaof uniform height with which the cam 5a engages at each revolution, and on the opposite side of the jack is a butt 305 preferably of curved or inclined format-ion. The guides 11a are formed each with a cranked or-angular portion 115 which, when the guides are in lowered, normal position are disposed so that the curved butt 30?) on the ack 30 coacts therewith and,

when operated upon by the rotary cam, radially displaces the guide. hen, however, a guide 11a is raised by the aforesaid jacquard mechanism the cranked part 11?) of the guide is raised above the level of the curved tensive range of patterns can be produced, andin the case of stocklngs and socks, such pattern can be of a continually differing character along the entire length and/or width or circumference of the leg or article, in fact each and every thread guide can be independently operated.

Additionally, the changing from one patternto another can be effected in a very simple and expeditious manner, it being only necessary to remove the jacquard cards and replace same with another orothers, no alteration o-fthe thread guides or jacks being necessary.

We claim: a 1. In a circular knitting machine a plurality of displaceable thread guides, a 1'0- The reciprocation of the cam 5a tary cam devlce operating to displace said guides and jacquard mechanism functioning selectively to move said-thread guides into a position in which they are unaffected by said cam device. 7 Y

2. In a circular knitting machine a circular-row of needles, aseries of radially movable thread guides, a rotary cam operating successively to displace said guides radially relatively to said needles, jacquard mechanism connected with sald guides and functioning to raise them 1nto a' position where- 'in they are unaffected by-said cam, and means operating to return the guides to their normal position after being raised.

3. In a circular knitting machine. a circula-rrow of needles, a circular row of depending :thread guides, a rotary cam functioning successively to displace said guides radially and determine whether they are in a feeding or non-feeding position relatively to the needles, jacquard mechanism connected with said guides and operating to raise them clear, of the rotary cam and spring means operating independently on each guide to return them to the normal position after being raised. v

4. In a circular knitting machine, a circular row of needles, a. circular series of radially displaceable depending thread guides, a rotary cam device functioning successively to move said guides radially so as to determine whether they are in a feeding or nonfeeding position, a plurality of jacquard devices each operating to displace selected guides of-a separate series or group constituting a part of the circular row of thread guides so as to move said guides to a POSI.

tion wherein same are unaffected by the -ro tary cam, means for operating the jacquard devices in Succession so as to effect selective displacement of each series or group of guldessuccessively, and means for returning the guides to their normal position placement by said acquards.

after dissaid cam functioning through pivoted lever mechanism to operate said jacquard mechanism and time said operation.

EDWIN TEMPLAR MAY. ARTHUR SHERRIFF.

5. In a circular knitting machine, a cir- -cular row of depending thread guldes capable of radial displacement,a camoperating Within said roW of guides, said cam being rotated to move selected guides radially to a feeding position, means for imparting axial motion to said cam 'at predetermined intervals, said axial motion functioning to vary the selection of guides contained in the major portion of the circular row of guides,

.a acquard device, said jacquard being connected to the guides contained in the remain- 111g comparatlvely small sectlon of the c1rcular row of guides and operating to select therefrom guides for radial displacement by of the aforesaid jacksvvith stepped butts, a jacquard device, said jacquard being con-.

,the rotary cam, and the axial movement of the cam occurring while the operative part of said cam is passing the jacquard-operated section of the row of guides having butts of.

uniform height, said cam being rotated to move selected guides radially to a feeding position, means for imparting axial motion to said cam at predetermined intervals, said axial motion functioning to vary the selection of guides contained in the major portion of the circular row of guides through the medium nccted to the guides contained in the re.- malning comparatlvely small section of the circular row of guides and operating to select therefrom guides for radial displace- I ment by the rotary cam through the medium of the aforesaid jacks having butts of uniform height, and the axial movement of the cam occurring while the operative part of said cam is passing the jacquard operated section.

7. In a circular knitting machine a circular row of needles, a circular row of depending thread guides, a rotary cam functioning successively .to displace said guides radially and determine Whether same are in a feeding or nonfeeding position relativelyv to the needles, acquard mechanism connected with said guides and operating to raise them clear of the rotary cam, means for re turning the guides to the normal position after being raised, a second rotating cam, 

